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Overview
During a famine, Limo appears on a mountain ridge above ’Maliepetsane as she gathers food. Angered by her answer, he leaps down to chase her. She outruns him and reaches the hole where she lives; he is too large to enter it. He next covers the entrance with an animal skin, but she breaks through. A stronger covering finally prevents her reaching safety, and Limo takes her captive.
He orders his mother, sitting in his dark hut, to kill and cook the prisoner. Instead, ’Maliepetsane kills the mother and assumes her clothes and cap. Limo and his child receive the resulting meal. The child recognizes a resemblance to the grandmother’s hand and finger, but the disguised woman angrily dismisses the observation. Later she puts on Limo’s war clothes and reveals what has happened while brandishing his spears.
Limo pursues her again in fury. At a flooded river she becomes a little stone. Searching unsuccessfully, he picks up that stone and throws it to the far bank, imagining he could strike her if she were there. His own action carries her safely across. The ending gives her triumphant recognition that Limo has helped her cross; it does not narrate his death or turn every similarly named cannibal in the collection into this individual.
Origins & earliest records
Jacottet explicitly says this tale was taken from A. Sekese’s book, p. 192. It is a printed textual transmission with Jacottet’s parallel translation, not an individually identified oral interview conducted by him. His name note derives Limo from lelimo, a cannibal term also used as a proper name in other tales.
Records & interpretation
XXXVIII, Limo and ’Maliepetsane, complete bilingual pp. 258–263; English pp. 258, 260, 262. Sekese attribution and name note pp. 258–259; capture, disguised escape and transformation p. 260; successful river crossing p. 262.
Selected bibliography
Documented works and useful reading. This is not a list of every appearance.
- 01
The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, vol. I
XXXVIII, Limo and ’Maliepetsane, complete bilingual pp. 258–263; English pp. 258, 260, 262. Sekese attribution and name note pp. 258–259; capture, disguised escape and transformation p. 260; successful river crossing p. 262.
- 02
The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, volume I
The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, volume I, Morija: Sesuto Book Depot; London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1908, actual title-page OCR. Full preface and method statement introduction xxii read; complete chapters XXXVII–XXXIX, bilingual printed pp.254–265, English narrative and full explanatory notes independently read. Sesotho placement inspected without an independent-translation claim.
Family, evolution & connections
Limo’s mother and child — Jacottet XXXVIII
English p. 260 in the complete XXXVIII account, pp. 258–262.
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- Limo’s unnamed mother
- Limo’s unnamed child
Two explicitly stated parent–child links. The mother and child remain unnamed; Limo’s father and the child’s other parent are unspecified. Maliepetsane impersonates the mother but is not added as a relative. This is Jacottet’s English rendering of the account credited to A. Sekese, not an independently collated original edition.
Limo’s unnamed mother (XXXVIII)
The old woman living in the hut is explicitly Limo’s mother. Maliepetsane’s use of her clothing is impersonation, not a change in family identity.
Limo’s unnamed child (XXXVIII)
The narrator calls this child Limo’s, and the child addresses him as father while recognizing the grandmother’s hand and finger. No personal name or other parent is supplied.
Ngana Ngulungu, the Framed Grandson
Jacottet’s child recognizes the grandmother’s hand and finger; Chatelain’s Antelope child recognizes the father’s smell. The recognition exposes disguised family flesh in different episodes. This comparison does not establish borrowing, common origin, or kinship between the tales’ characters.
Located primary passages
Specific passages supporting details in this entry, grouped by their published witness.
The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, vol. I
The Treasury of Ba-suto Lore, volume I, Morija: Sesuto Book Depot; London: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trübner & Co., 1908, actual title-page OCR. Full preface and method statement introduction xxii read; complete chapters XXXVII–XXXIX, bilingual printed pp.254–265, English narrative and full explanatory notes independently read. Sesotho placement inspected without an independent-translation claim.
- A cannibal’s trap succeeds, but his captive substitutes his mother and deceives him into helping her escape.
XXXVIII, Limo and Maliepetsane, complete bilingual pp.258–263; English pp.258/260/262
The chapter explicitly credits A. Sekese, cited page192; that underlying publication has not been independently read here. Limo’s name is glossed from cannibal and not a unique pan-regional identity. The calves-dung wording is a proverb explained in a note, not independently established literal accident. No death of Limo is narrated. English corrector credited; no source-wide rights conclusion inferred from public access.
References
Sources supporting this profile. Linked pages have their own scope and editorial standards.
- Collected Se-Suto text with English translation and notesJacottet — Limo of ’Maliepetsane’s TaleResearch access: 2026-10-05
Image credits
A sourced illustration has not yet been added. This gap is included in the coverage record.